sickening tears (frightful fears)
by FixerRefutation
Summary: No one can put a finger to it, but.. something about Jack is off.


**Hello! So this is my first fic on ROTG and (is that what you call it? dsjhkj idk), so I'd appreciate..really anything  
you can step on me and its all good **

**ANYWAY**

 **um disclaimer i don't own ROTG and on we go!**

"Come on, Jamie! There's no chance you'll be able to do _anything_ today if you're that slow!" Jack whooped excitedly, weight supported by the wind as he flew- moreso, relaxed- as the breeze carried him along. Jamie shivered from such close proximity with the winter spirit, but smiled nonetheless as he sprinted along, arms wrapped around his sled as the two dashed through the snow.

A snowball slapped Jamie in the face.

"Wh- hey Jack, no fair! You promised no hits until we get to the place!" The spirit floated in front of the boy, flying backwards as he sent a little cheeky grin, and Jamie pulled his sled up as a shield as a barrage of snowballs hit the wood. He spoke again, voice raised with an excitement that stood as a stark contrast against his own words. "S-sttoop! It's against the rules!"

"What rules?"

"The- the ancient rules of snowball fights!"

"Can't stop me, can it now?" Jack drifted behind Jamie, making sure to freeze the snowball to maximum safety (because otherwise North or Tooth would've berated him about it) before hitting the boy in the back.

"Okay, okay! We're here, we're hee-e-rreee-!" Jamie threw his sled down, scooping as much snow as possible before pelting it all at Jack. The winter spirit laughed as he dodged the snow, raising his arms out for snow to collect in his cupped hands before the bits of snow solidified into a snowball, which he threw at Jamie. The boy retaliated with a wild barrage, taking shelter behind mounds of ice and his own sled.

"Now that's more like it!"

But Jamie was already showing signs of fatigue from running so far in such a little amount of time, and he and Jack plopped down in the middle of a snow-covered clearing. Jack tossed the sled a little near them, and sighed loudly, looking to the sky. Jamie giggled, glee coating his brown eyes.

"We were so early, too..!"

Jack shrugged. "You gotta make sacrifices sometimes, eh?"

"Yeah, but..!" Jack waited for the reply. A sigh answered him. "I got nothing."

"I know. I'm amazing."

A moment of silence before Jamie jumped up, landing hard on the snow as he jumped up and down, childish energy easily regained. "Hey, so when everyone else arrives, can you make it really snowy so we can have loads of ammo?"

Jack grinned. "Of course. Raising himself up, then hopping high into the air before letting himself fall, avoiding the help of the wind just this once. Bunny would be jealous at the sheer _altitude_ of his jump.

...so it wasn't _that_ high, but still pretty high. Jack would be setting a new record by now. But he'd amazed Jamie, so it would be counted as a success. His heart soared as it always did in the air, far away from problems, responsibilities.

Still, all things returned to the Earth. Jack landed with a flourish, bowing as Jamie clapped enthusiastically. Though he'd seen Jack do the same thing countless times, the sheer vigor in which Jack carried himself was infectious, spreading from one child to another.

Then, a crackling sound. It was so unexpected, so unusual that the two froze solid on the snow below them. Jack laughed nervously. "That's weird, right Jamie?" Bare feet brushed at the carpet of snow as the winter spirit talked, revealing a cold sheet of blue. Jamie looked up at him apprehensively before looking down at the ground again. "Yeah.. Didn't we choose this place because-?"

A crackling sound. Jack choked out of habit at first, disguising it as an awkward cough directed at Jamie, like he wanted the boy's attention. Fear-stricken eyes slowly turned to Jack, the now telltale sound of ice breaking under his weight was his voice, barely more than a whisper- as if he were afraid that if he spoke any louder, his voice would crack the ice even more and he would fall through- and the words Jack had so often heard, from his sister, from when they were against Pitch, and now.

" _Jack, I'm scared.."_

I'm scared too, he wanted to say. I'm scared too.

The world floated away, and for that second, it was just him. Him, on the ice.

As a human with no powers, nothing besides that shepherd's staff beside him.

Completely helpless in the face of his underlying, passive fear.

" _You'll be okay."_

Breeze ruffled Jack's hair. He tried reaching out, to tell the breeze to carry Jamie to safety, and heck, himself as well, but his attempt failed. His limbs were weak with trembling apprehension, with expectation of that water crashing into his body, overflowing his lungs and crushing them at the same time, icy cold shock numbing his body. And maybe it was going to happen again. Would it?

"Jack…"

"Huh..?" His mind was distant, somewhere far away, leaving only his body and speaking abilities with Emma, in the present. The scratch of cloth pulled at pale skin. His emotions were muted, what could be pain or maybe panic far off in the back of his mind, keeping him stuck in the present.

"Jack..jack!"

He dug his staff into the ground by pure instinct, digging his heels in for good measure before sheet after sheet of ice and frost spread across the ground in sweeping patterns. Jamie backed up into the rock, letting the ice spirit work his magic. "That..Jack, are you okay?" Leaning heavily on the staff in confused fatigue, Jack nodded in reply, the wind supporting his figure. He leant on Jamie's head as soon as the boy came near, shifting his weight to relax on Jamie more so than the staff.

"..Yeah, just give me a minute, will you?"

"I don't mind calling off the thing, yknow.."

"Oh, no, you're doing that. It'll be fine, don't worry!"

"But.." Jamie bit his lip, and asked, "Will you just..promise me you'll take a break or something? You sound half dead, so-um, five minutes! Pleeeaaaaasseeee? Please? Please? Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeaaa-"

"Alright, alright, you got me- I'll settle down real fast, okay?"

"Mmmmm, in a bed?"

"...Bye!"

" _Jack!"_

Jack only hit a minor bump in his flight back to the North Pole.


End file.
